Public Administration Certificate Online Graduate Courses

The public administration certificate is a graduate-level credential that helps you gain foundational knowledge and skills relevant to the public administration field. Some of the benefits of earning this certificate include:

• Adapting to changing roles and responsibilities
• Validating and developing an existing skill set
• Demonstrating professional interest and development
• Jumpstarting your master's degree

Want to earn your public administration certificate online? You can do that at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), an accredited, nonprofit university with over 25 years of experience in online education.

Through 4 graduate-level courses, you'll build a great foundation in public administration, public policy, strategic management and intergovernmental relations. It's an affordable way to build new skills while adding a valuable credential that looks great on your resume.

Even better? These courses can later be applied to SNHU's Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Public Administration program if you choose to earn a full master's degree.

Public administrators protect communities and improve their well-being by recognizing needs, analyzing laws and regulations, reviewing budget allocation and identifying solutions.

If you're interested in public administration, it's important to know your job title likely won't be "public administrator." That's because you'll put your public administration knowledge and skills to use in a more focused way. Some potential positions may include:

• Budget analyst
• City manager
• Community planner
• Program manager
• Strategy specialist
• Transportation planner

Public administrators work in all sorts of fields. Whether you have an interest in environmental protection, public health, civil rights or anything in between, you should be able to find a public administration job that aligns with the things you value.

The 4 pillars of public administration are:

• Economy: Get the most out of taxpayer money.
• Efficiency: Do the most good as quickly as possible with the resources at hand.
• Effectiveness: Consider whether you are actually accomplishing your objective through your solution.
• Equity: Ensure projects have equitable outcomes for all populations.

What do these pillars mean in context? Imagine your community's residents have spoken up about the need for public restrooms at the city park. Portable bathrooms are brought up as an option, but what if we run it through the 4 pillars?

Portable bathrooms check the boxes as an economic solution. When it comes to efficiency, it would be a quick and easy project to complete, but is it really what the people wanted? You might be accomplishing what citizens asked for, but there's no running water for hand washing or filling water bottles. So maybe it's not as effective of a solution as possible. Finally, consider how equitable this solution is. Could a mother with 3 young children or a person in a wheelchair utilize this restroom? This solution doesn't pass the test.

Using this example, you can see how important employing the 4 pillars of public administration can be when finding solutions to a community's problems.

According to Henri Fayol, the 14 principles of administration are:

1. Division of Work: Reduce duties and specialize employees' skills to increase efficiency and output.
2. Authority: Derive authority formally from an official position, but also from personal authority.
3. Discipline: Gain obedience through agreements and fair penalties.
4. Unity of Command: Assign only one direct supervisor to an employee.
5. Unity of Direction: Coordinate efforts by assigning one manager to teams with the same objectives.
6. Subordination of Individual Interests to the General Interest: Use a utilitarian approach when it comes to the interests of all employees.
7. Remuneration: Employ fair compensation across the organization for wellbeing and happiness of employees.
8. Centralization: Decide how active employees should be in the decision-making process.
9. Scalar Chain: Ensure employees are aware of their position in organizational hierarchy and that communications follow that chain of command.
10. Order: Assign spaces for people and things to keep order.
11. Equity: Treat staff equally in terms of respect, justice and kindness.
12. Stability of Tenure of Personnel: Invest in employee development to reduce turnover and reduce inefficiencies.
13. Initiative: Allow employees to ideate and carry out their own plans to increase satisfaction.
14. Esprit de Corps: Promote a team spirit of unity across the organization.